SEVERAL Walmart customers are reporting issues with the company’s self checkout systems, which are making shopping harder.
Lots of the complaints target specific areas of the checkout experience, and they all say that their trip was made more inconvenient because of the issues they faced.
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The number of complaints have been growing in recent weeks, with shoppers claiming to see fewer and fewer employees manning registers and self checkouts becoming overloaded with long item shops.
This has left what is meant to be the express line becoming the general one, with long lines being created.
Customers say the check-out bungle is holding up the process and reducing efficiency.
Shoppers have even taken to the social media platform X in recent weeks to air their grievances, as reported by The US Sun.
One Walmart shopper in North Carolina posted: “Hey @Walmart, how come you don’t have ANY registers open at 8:30 am?
“Now I gotta check out an entire cart in a very small area.
“Do better. How about offer a discount to those who self checkout?”
The rant was also shared with pictures from the scene, showing the shopper having to squeeze her massive cart into the tiny self checkout space.
This area isn’t designed to have carts there because employees are expected to have registers open to scan the items for the shopper.
Walmart has not yet directly responded to the post.
STAFF SLAMMED
In another instance, also covered by The US Sun, Walmart was slammed for their checkout policy, except this time the registers were actually open.
This angry customer posted: “@Walmart Store number 3583 closing all lines while people standing waiting over 10 minutes to send everyone to Self checkout because now it’s ok to checkout in lanes marked 15 items or less with over 15 items suddenly.
“So now we have to wait in the self checkout line.”
The scrutiny was accompanied by pictures showing a massive line stretching through the store, as two queues were mashed together by staff.
The disgraced store responded: “You should always have a smooth experience!
“Could you please send a DM with details?”
It was confirmed in the comments of the post that this incident took place at a store in Glenmont, New York.
Other checkout issues can come when staff members are involved in the self checkout process.
A shopper used the same method to voice her shock at what she experienced when she was trying to checkout her items and leave the store.
The customer was using the machine as normal when an employee came over and rated her shopping experience as five stars for her – without any explanation why.
She said: “So I was just at @Walmart and the lady at self checkout walked up to my self check out screen when I was done and rated my rating as five stars…….I’m like “Why would you do that?”
“And she’s like “Sorry” Like girl what if my rating was a 1. wtf???? She’s so bright for that.”
The store’s rating system is there for shoppers to input how positive their experience was, and is not normally something filled out by staff.
It is not thought that the employees at the self-checkout benefit form Walmart receiving higher customer ratings, according to Reddit.
A thread on the page r/walmart said that only the top management benefit from higher scores.
NO RESPONSE
In a lot of these instances, the complaint process is difficult to track, because the store will leave a link to a feedback form, but it is often unknown what happens after that.
It means that even if Walmart does respond, there is no way of knowing if the store was told what they could be doing better.
Lots of stores have implemented self checkout machines as a way to speed up the shopping process.
Walmart’s secret shopper policy
SOME retailers have hired so-called secret shoppers to go undercover and review the customer experience for market research.
However, Walmart has taken a strict stance against the programs.
Walmart’s corporate website explains, “Mystery shopping, sometimes referred to as secret shopping, is where an individual’ acts’ like a customer and evaluates services at a business.
“Walmart does not utilize these services or hire associates to perform services on behalf of other retailers or companies.
However, scammers take advantage of these types of programs by sending fraudulent solicitations via mail, text, or email to entice consumers to evaluate the retail experience.
Often times these offers of employment are accompanied by a fake check made out for a large amount of money or otherwise offer immediate employment with a good salary and minimal effort required.”
There have been some moves by Walmart to address this issue in recent months.
Some store have started only allowing Walmart members to use the self checkout machines.
Some select stores have even gone as far as to remove the self checkout option entirely.
